Grant to discharged soldiers performing vital work

The grant is paid to those who meet the following three conditions:
1.   You worked in a job that is recognized as vital work for the purpose of payment of the grant.
2.   You worked for the minimum period of time.
3.   You are entitled to an unemployment benefit (required only of those who began to perform vital work a year after their date of discharge).

A job in an industrial factory; workshop; construction site; agricultural crop site or packing house; gas station or hotel; except for a secretarial job – as determined and detailed in the Law.

The claim for the grant can be submitted at any branch of the National Insurance Institute throughout the country, on the form Claim for Payment of a Grant.

1. Photocopy of certificate of discharge from the IDF or another document from the army showing the date of completion of compulsory service, or certification of the period of volunteer national service from one of the entities authorized to provide it.
2. Certification by the employers regarding the type of work that was performed, as well as the location and period of the work, noting the number of work days in each one of the months worked.
3. If you began working in vital work after 12 months elapsed from the date of your discharge from compulsory service, you must provide photocopies of all your pay slips at every job in which you worked during the year and a half that preceded the start of the vital / preferred work.

A job in an industrial factory; workshop; construction site; agricultural crop site or packing house; gas station or hotel; except for a secretarial job – as determined and detailed in the Law.

A claim for the grant can be submitted after you have completed at least 6 months of vital work, and no later than 12 months after completion of the 6 months of work.

If you submit the claim after that date, you may lose your right to receive the grant.

The amount of the full grant for someone who has completed a period of work entitling him to a grant  in Deecember 2011 and thereafter is NIS 9,239 (as of 01.01.2012) .

Income tax deduction
The National Insurance Institute does not deduct withholding tax at the time the grant is paid, but the grant is considered income to all intents and purposes by the income tax authorities and it is taken into account along with other income for the purpose of calculating tax.
A discharged soldier whose income reached the tax threshold in the year in which he received the grant may be required by the income tax authorities to pay tax on the grant, when it conducts a tax adjustment or when the annual tax return is submitted, whether the return was submitted at his initiative for the purpose of a tax refund or at the request of the income tax authorities.

Reduced grant for those receiving unemployment benefits
If you received unemployment benefits in the 11 months that preceded the start of your first vital job, you will receive a reduced grant. The unemployment days for which you received payment is deducted from the days of vital work that you accumulated.

A person who worked for less than 6 full months in vital work, and therefore is not entitled to a grant, may be entitled to a partial grant under certain circumstances if he worked at a job defined as preferred job.

1.  In order to be entitled to a partial grant, you must work at a job recognized as vital work, which was found to be unsuitable for you from the standpoint of profession or distance, for at least 25 consecutive workdays within the first 21 days after the date of your discharge, or 3 consecutive months between the 22nd and the 24th month from the date of your discharge from compulsory service.

2.  To be entitled to unemployment benefit (required only of those who began working at preferred job after a year has elapsed since discharge from army).

Rate of the benefit - the partial benefit is calculated in proportion to the number of days worked at the preferred work.

A job in a workplace listed in required job, on condition that it is not suitable work for the person thereby employed.

In industrial plants and workshops, in gas stations, construction sites, hotels, agricultural crop growing sites and packing houses, and in caring for disabled people.

If a discharged soldier is offered work that is not included in the list of vital jobs, or he has doubts that it is, we recommend that he check with the National Insurance Institute branch closest to his place of residence before he begins working, to determine whether it is considered vital work.